{"id":901217,"date":"2026-04-24T00:19:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/did-the-supreme-court-just-hand-elon-musk-a-giant-victory-against-music-publishers\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:19:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:19:30","slug":"did-the-supreme-court-just-hand-elon-musk-a-giant-victory-against-music-publishers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/did-the-supreme-court-just-hand-elon-musk-a-giant-victory-against-music-publishers\/","title":{"rendered":"Did the Supreme Court Just Hand Elon Musk a Giant Victory Against Music Publishers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Music <\/p>\n

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\"music<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo: Mark Thomas<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Music Last week, the US Supreme Court handed a decisive defeat<\/a> to major label conglomerates \u2014 and a billion-dollar victory to Cox Communications. But this decision is likely to go far beyond Cox and ISPs harboring piracy, with the ripple effects already becoming glaringly apparent.<\/h2>\n

Actually, forget about \u2018ripple effects\u2019 \u2014 is the music industry now facing a tsunami of legal ramifications following the Supreme Court\u2019s unanimous 9-0 decision in Cox Communications v. Sony Music Entertainment<\/em>?<\/p>\n

In the moments immediately after the decision dropped, DMN Pro examined whether ISP piracy still matters<\/a>. It\u2019s a surprisingly complicated question, though it now looks like this decision will go way, way beyond ISP-housed infringement.<\/p>\n

Actually, the ominous harbinger in our report came at the end, with\u00a0<\/span>USC Thornton School of Music<\/span><\/a> Associate Professor Andrew Leff predicting a major spillover into ongoing copyright fights. \u201cThis<\/span> decision transcends mere \u2018ISP liability\u2019; it will be cited hundreds of times in upcoming copyright cases,\u201d Leff predicted, while pointing to a broader erosion in copyright protections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Just days later, we\u2019re already seeing Leff\u2019s dire prediction coming true.<\/p>\n

Look no further than the $250 million copyright infringement battle being waged by the NMPA and 18 music publishers (including the majors Sony, Universal, and Warner) against X in Concord Music Group, Inc., et al. v. X Corp.<\/a><\/h4>\n

There\u2019s also a highly contentious countersuit to go with it, with X leveling monopoly allegations against the well-organized publishing \u2018cartel\u2019 while defending its use of copyright works. We\u2019ve been covering this legal battle for years, though Elon\u2019s X now feels it has a very serious upper hand \u2014 and even a crushing blow.<\/p>\n

As for the backstory here: X has never paid for music, instead arguing that alleged infringement is actually permissible usage under the \u2018Safe Harbor\u2019 provisions of the DMCA. But in the wake of the Supreme Court\u2019s gavel drop, X lawyers at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP are looking to slam this case shut.<\/p>\n

X now argues that a recent 9-0 Supreme Court ruling in a case involving Cox Communications effectively \u201cdooms\u201d the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by major music publishers against the platform.<\/h4>\n

The logic?<\/p>\n

The Supreme Court justices ruled that ISPs and related platforms cannot be held liable for users\u2019 copyright violations unless the service is specifically tailored for infringement or very actively encourages law-breaking piracy. X, which already defeated publishers\u2019 direct infringement claims, now feels it has zero liability for secondary infringement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Supreme Court had issued this opinion three years ago, X believes this court would have dismissed plaintiffs\u2019 contributory infringement claim in its entirety,\u201d X\u2019s attorneys blasted less than 48 hours after the Supreme Court\u2019s verdict. \u201cIndeed, virtually every contributory infringement case plaintiffs cited in opposing X\u2019s motion to dismiss \u2014 including the Fourth Circuit case on which this court relied \u2014 is no longer good law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Cox\u2019s inducement-or-tailoring holding, the Court should dismiss this lawsuit.\u201d<\/h4>\n

See where this one is going?<\/p>\n

Throughout Concord v. X<\/em> \u2014 or the X v. NMPA<\/em> countersuit \u2014 Musk\u2019s X has been lambasted for slow-walking DMCA takedown requests and failing to ban repeat offenders. That sounds eerily like the accusations leveled against ISPs, and X is now arguing this is no longer \u201cgood law\u201d in light of the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling.<\/p>\n

Both sides have now agreed to press pause on the evidence discovery process and file refreshed briefs to address the Supreme Court\u2019s decision.<\/h4>\n

Earlier, barristers told DMN that this was close to a settlement in late 2025, though fragile talks fell apart. Now, there\u2019s a very real danger the entire case will be dismissed, raising serious questions about whether the industry\u2019s earlier crusade against ISPs was a wise move.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a scary turn of events for anyone invested in music IP. Five minutes ago, the RIAA had Cox over a barrel with a $1 billion infringement decision. Now, the music industry is at risk of losing a pile of infringement lawsuits \u2014 with Cox v. Sony<\/em> cited every single time.<\/p>\n

More as this develops.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Music Photo: Mark Thomas Music Last week, the US Supreme Court handed a decisive defeat to major label conglomerates \u2014 and a billion-dollar victory to Cox Communications. But this decision is likely to go far beyond Cox and ISPs harboring piracy, with the ripple effects already becoming glaringly apparent. Actually, forget about \u2018ripple effects\u2019 \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":901218,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[131522],"class_list":{"0":"post-901217","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business-news","8":"tag-podcast-music"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}